THE camp of Senator Grace Poe is not inclined to seek the inhibition of Supreme Court’s Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, chairman of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).
During the oral arguments last Sept. 21, Carpio said Poe is a naturalized Filipino and not a natural-born Filipino unless she could prove blood relations to Filipino parents.
The Associate Justice said that Poe, a foundling, whose biological parents are unknown, may be considered a Filipino citizen under international law but only with a “naturalized” status.
Atty. George Garcia, one of Poe’s lawyers, said they remain confident in the integrity and independence of Carpio and eight other SET members, namely: Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro and Arturo Brion, and Senators Bam Aquino, Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Tito Sotto and Cynthia Villar.
“Kung paiiralin niyo po ang emotion dito rather than logic, rather than common sense, baka po ‘yung buong siyam kailangang ipa-inhibit din para wala nang problema. E, hindi po ganun ang labanan sa ganito,” Garcia said.
He said the SET is expected to resolve the case on the merits and based on law, notwithstanding the political affiliations of its members, particularly the six senators, who are Poe’s colleagues in the Senate.
“Wala pong pinagkaiba iyan sa impeachment court. Even if they are senator-judges, they are expected to resolve the case based on the evidence presented,” Garcia pointed out.
Garcia said they are highly confident that the SET will decide on the merits of the case and declare that the senator is a natural born Filipino.
“We believe that the [SET] will really resolve this case based on the law, based on their conscience, based on their own interpretation of the controversy and the given facts,” Poe’s lawyer George Garcia said, in a statement.
Poe, the topnotcher in the 2013 senatorial race and a frontrunner in recent presidential preference surveys, is facing a disqualification case before the SET on the ground that she is not a natural-born citizen.
But her legal team insists that Poe is a Filipino citizen from birth and does not have to go through a naturalization process to become a citizen – a position shared by several respected legal minds, including retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and former senator Rene Saguisag.
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